If I thought Singapore was one big shopping mall yesterday, then I am about to see how true this is today, as the walking tour for today is of Orchard Road, which is the Fifth Avenue of New York, or Rodeo Drive of Beverly Hills. When I walk down the section of Orchard Road where the most popular stores and malls are located, I notice that all the malls are the same. The stores in one mall will be found in the neighboring mall, and so forth all the way down the street. I don't know how many Louis Vuitton stores are needed, but it seems to have several in a few block radius. The same can be said about the other exclusive stores also located on the street.

Today's tour takes only about 15 minutes to complete, when it should take about four hours, as I choose not to enter any of the malls. I am told by many that I need to stick around and wait for the Christmas lights to go on

. It's not my thing, but then I decide, when in Rome... So, there I am, in a Starbucks for several hours waiting for the lights. Thank goodness for Starbucks offering free wifi, as for some reason I have my laptop with me.

While at Starbucks, there was a woman there with her two daughters, ages around 2 and 4. The younger one somehow hit her head against something, which made her bleed heavily. The girl started screaming and crying, and the mother was just a hair away from doing the same, as she freaked out when she saw how much blood was coming out of her daughter's forehead. The owner of Starbucks should be proud of the workers at this store, as they leapt into action that was as worthy as an emergency room of some hospital. They brought thick paper towels to help with the bleeding, rather than the flimsy napkins that the mother was using from the table. While the mother was trying to calm her daughter, the staff worked on calming the mother. They had ice bags at the ready, and when the bleeding stopped or slowed down, they wrapped the little girl's head in bandages, which made her look like she just had had brain surgery. It was rather impressive to see how they focused on the injury, and not on the sale of lattes and frappachinos. They really seemed to know what they were doing. When it was all over, they handed the little girl a bag of goodies to comfort her from her accident as she was being carried out of the place by her mother

. As for the other sister, she was oblvious to it all. I noticed that she either kept herself busy doing other things, or just sat there patiently on the sidelines, waiting for it all to finish. I wondered if she's seen all of this before, which is why there was no reaction from her part.

Finally, the sun went down, the Christmas lights went on, and it took me a really long time to walk the few short blocks to see the decorations, as it seemed all of Singapore, and half of neighboring Malaysia were there to see the lights, take pictures, and have their pictures taken at the many setups found on the street. It was impossibly crowded to get around, even to get back to the metro station, but at least it wasn't the US Embassy, so I had nothing to worry about.